Archive for April, 2011

@ZackTeibloom Lollapalooza pulled off something special with its 20th anniversary line-up. Andy and I had to break it down and guess who the headliners would be pitted against and who we’d pick. Will we have to decide between Eminem and Coldplay? Would anyone make us miss the Foo Fighters? Spend 21 minutes with us and see why we end with Andy sounding like he’s dying and yelling “Too Soon!” at me.

@AndyShore One of the first things every festival is judged on is their headliners. Zack and I both agree Lollapalooza did a great job this year. We’ve already argued who’s headliners were better between Outside Lands and Lolla. I picked Lolla, even before Coldplay, My Morning Jacket and Deadmau5 were announced. Now it’s a landslide victory. The rest of a lineup is what defines a festival. I’m gonna look at a few bands you might not know yet, and clue you in. Then you’ll see just how great Lolla 2011 will be. Read the rest of this entry »

@ZackTeibloom The 2011 Lollapalooza line-up is live just before midnight. It’s strong. I’m not blown away, but there are some solid acts all up and down the list. We knew Eminem, Foo Fighters, and Muse and are a bit surprised to see Coldplay as a headliner. I’m OK with it. I’ve never seen them and have full confidence in Chris Martin and company to wow me. I just hope Gwyneth stays out of sight. I’m thrilled to see My Morning Jacket high up on the list and seeing The Cars on the list made me smirk in a “hmm, that’ll be fun” kind of way. Mid-level bands that jumped out at me are Bright Eyes, who I know will have a touching, enthralling show after watching three live streams in the past month. I can’t wait to see old favorites like Ween and Local Natives, get my ears popped out at Sleigh Bells, dance wildly to Girl Talk, and of course, me and Andy’s rockstar crush Grace Potter. Further down, I’m looking forward to getting my first look at The Drums, Titus Andronicus, Fitz and the Tantrums, Flogging Molly, and I’m hopeful Cee-Lo will recover from that Coachella disaster. All in all, I’m content. It’s something for everybody and a broad mix. Here’s the full list: Read the rest of this entry »

@ZackTeibloom If you’re going to Coachella, you’re already there or on your way. If you’re reading this, it means you’ll have to festival vicariously like me. That’s OK. (It’s really not. It’s killing me.) There’s a live stream that will almost make it feel like you’re there. (It’s not the same, why couldn’t I get there? Why did I decide to be responsible and pay off debt and work?) And this year we have choices. With three channels running from about 4 pm to midnight Friday through Sunday, (Three channels. Woo, mother fucking, hoo. I can’t wait to tell my grandkids about that time I watched a concert online.) I won’t be bored this weekend at work.

OK, I think I’ve made my level of excitement/jealousy clear, but in all honesty, I think the abundance of streaming live shows is the best tech thing that’s caught on the past couple years. (Suck it, Foursquare/Gowalla & group text messaging, you’re worthless!) I’m gonna give you my picks for which shows to stream first and then the full schedule so you can pick whatever you want. I’ll be tweeting interesting thoughts from the shows on @festivalcrasher. Enjoy the streams.

@ZackTeibloom I’m not going to Coachella 2011. It hurts me to type that, but that’s how it shook out this year. But if I were doing it (Why do I keep thinking of OJ’s book “If I Did It?”) this would be my planned schedule. As always, there are some tough conflicts, but not too many heartbreakers. The top 4 hardest decisions are: The Black Keys vs. Marina and the Diamonds, Bright Eyes vs. The Kills, The National vs. Duck Sauce vs. Duran Duran, and The Strokes vs. Chromeo vs. Ratatat. You’ll have plenty more tough decisions as the weekend goes on and I don’t even know how to advise you right off the bat on whether to end night one with The Chemical Brothers, Flogging Molly or Gayngs. I’ll be at work all weekend, watching the streams, Retweeting interesting notes and passing along whatever wisdom I can from Austin. You have fun out there for me. Here’s my picks, with a quick reason why for each band. Read the rest of this entry »

@ZackTeibloom Andy and I finally realized we could talk on Skype Video so we wouldn’t step all over each others lines as we dissected the Outside Lands festival and debated its strengths vs. Lollapalooza. Andy tells us how much he loves Adele and I counter w/ Marina and the Diamonds. Then we end up talking about Passover and Umphreys?

@supercooleric SXSW 2011 brought more than 2,000 acts through Austin in March. Here are 100 of our favorite artists from this year’s festival (in alphabetical order) and a link to download a sampler containing a song from each of them.

If your iTunes library is still hungry for more, you can download the full sampler of SXSW 2011 bands containing 1,154 tracks here. Or, if you’re looking for something involving less of a commitment of hard drive space, you can listen to SXSW’s official internet radio station on Shoutcast here.